“What are you doing?” asked Nell.
He answered:
“Look, what a giant! Fifteen people holding one another’s hands could not encircle this tree, which perhaps dates back to the time of Pharao. But the lower part of the trunk is rotten and hollow. You see this opening is large enough for any one to pass through. One could make a sort of large room in there, where we all could live together. That occurred to me when I saw Mea up in the branches, and while I was silently approaching the zebras the plan continually recurred to me.”
“But we must hurry on to Abyssinia.”
“Yes. But we must rest also, and as I told you yesterday, I have decided to stay here a week or two. You would not want to leave your elephant, and on your account I am afraid of the rainy season, which has already begun, when you will surely get the fever. The weather is fine to-day, but you see that the clouds are gathering, and who knows if the rain will not come before evening. The tent is not sufficient shelter for you, and within this giant tree, provided it be not hollow to the very top, we shall be able to laugh at the worst downpour. It would be much safer for us within it than in the tent, for if we were to stuff this opening and the windows, which we would have to make for light, with thorns every evening, any number of lions could roar around the tree. The rainy season only lasts a month during the spring, and I am still of the opinion that we should wait until it is over. If we have to wait we had better wait here in this giant tree than under a tent or anywhere else.”
As Nell always acquiesced in Stasch’s plans, she assented now, especially as she was delighted with the plan of remaining near the elephant and living in the tree. She began at once to think how she could arrange the rooms, how furnish them, and how they would then invite each other to “five o’clocks” and dinners. Finally they both became merry, and Nell immediately wanted to take a look at the new house, but Stasch, who had learned day by day from experience to be cautious, prevented her from proceeding in too great haste.
“Before we take possession of the house,” said he, “we must beg the present inhabitants, if there are any there, kindly to depart.”
After this he ordered Mea to throw several lighted branches, which being green smoked profusely, into the interior of the tree. It was well he did so, for the giant tree was indeed inhabited, and by tenants whose hospitality could not be depended upon.
CHAPTER VI
The tree had two openings, a large one half a yard from the ground, and a smaller one, somewhere about the height of the first story of a town house. Hardly had Mea thrown the burning branches into the lower one than large bats began to fly out of the top one, and, blinded by the sun, they circled around the tree, screaming as loud as they could. But the real master of the house soon wriggled out of the lower opening, and it proved to be an enormous boa-constrictor, which, though apparently still half asleep, had devoured the remnants of its last feast, and not until the smoke reached its nostrils had it awakened and sought safety. At the sight of this iron-colored body squirming out of the smoking tree-hollow, uncoiling itself like an enormous spring, Stasch picked Nell up in his arms and started to run away with her in the direction of the open wilderness. The reptile, itself frightened by the smoke and fire, did not follow them, but wended its way through the grass and the piles of baggage and disappeared very swiftly in the direction of the gorge, to hide itself in the crevices of the rocks. The children regained their courage. Stasch set Nell on the ground, hurried to fetch his rifle, and then ran in the direction of the gorge after the snake. Nell followed close behind. After going a short distance they beheld such an extraordinary sight that they both stood rooted to the ground. High above the gorge the body of the snake appeared for an instant, wriggled in the air, then fell to the ground. After a while it appeared a second time, then fell down again. When the children reached the edge of the ravine they saw to their surprise that their new friend, the elephant, was playing with the snake, and after having thrown it in the air twice, he was now stamping on its head with his feet, which resembled blocks of wood. Having finished this performance, he lifted the still squirming body with his trunk; this time he did not throw it into the air, but right into the waterfall. Then he swayed from side to side, fanned himself with his ears, and began to fix his eyes on Nell, and at last put out his trunk toward her, as if demanding a reward for his heroic and sensible deed.